Section 340.1707. Hearing impairment explained; determination.

(1) The term "hearing impairment" is a generic term which includes both students who are deaf and those who are hard of hearing and refers to students with any type or degree of hearing loss that interferes with development or adversely affects educational performance. "Deafness" means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the student is impaired  in processing   linguistic  information   through   hearing,   with or without amplification. The term "hard of hearing" refers to students with hearing impairment who have permanent or fluctuating hearing loss which  is  less severe than the hearing loss of students who are deaf and which generally permits the use of the auditory channel as the primary means of developing speech and language skills.

(2)      A determination of impairment shall be based upon a full and individual evaluation by a multidisciplinary evaluation team, which shall include an audiologist and an otolaryngologist or otologist.

History: 1979 AC; 1980 AACS; 1987 AACS; 2002 AACS; 2010 AACS.